OTTAWA – The recipient of the 2018 Archbishop Exner award says she “drifted” into family medicine but now she sees God’s providence in her work against euthanasia.

In the wake of Ford nation storming the citadel of Queen’s Park, Catholic agencies and groups are already adjusting to the new reality.

With an $11.6-million donation, Toronto’s St. Joseph’s Health Centre will create one of the largest, most advanced and most comprehensive palliative care units in Canada.

Socks, toothpaste, tampons, tissues and a handwritten note from a teenager aren’t likely to rewrite a life story that includes  sleeping in shelters, seeking comfort in opioids and waking up in the emergency room at St. Michael’s Hospital. 

VATICAN – Everyone should have access to essential health services and no one should have to fall into poverty to obtain needed care, a Vatican representative said.

WASHINGTON – Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services was one of seven U.S. religious leaders asking that any new North American Free Trade Agreement "avoid enhanced and extended monopolies on life-essential medicines."

The Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada has received permission to appeal a Jan. 31 Ontario Divisional Court decision that would force objecting doctors to refer for assisted suicide.

OTTAWA – Euthanasia opponents and disability rights activists are uneasy about a process to liberalize Canada’s euthanasia law — a law which they say still lacks regulations and proper safeguards.

An Ontario campaign to pressure politicians over the protection of health care conscience rights is “democracy in action,” said an organizer.

Everyone goes through times of crisis, but not everyone has a place to turn to for mental health support. 

VATICAN – Pope Francis used a meeting with thousands of Italian nurses to pay tribute to a nurse he believes saved his life by arguing with his doctors that he needed more aggressive antibiotics to treat a lung infection.

OTTAWA – A case coming this fall to the Supreme Court of Canada could have “a profound impact on all faith-based education, health care and social service facilities,” according to Canada’s bishops.

WASHINGTON – After the Senate voted July 25 to proceed with the health care debate, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, urged senators of both parties to "work together to advance changes that serve the common good."

WASHINGTON – The Senate Republicans' latest effort to overhaul the Affordable Care Act is "unacceptable" and shows little improvement over the lawmakers' first attempt to reform the federal health care law, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee.

A balanced budget with investments sprinkled across education, health care and welfare — including the surprise pharmacare program for anyone 24 and younger — has given faith communities in Ontario plenty to chew on.